Taiheiki

Chapter 12 Distinguished Guest
Wei Cong opened his mouth but didn't know what to say. He knew that Wang Shou was right, but it made him very unhappy. This man, with whom he had only ridden in the carriage for a short while, gave him a feeling of special closeness. Perhaps this is what the ancients called "falling in love with each other for a long time"!
"Let's go back!"

"What?" Wang Shou widened his eyes.

"I mean we fight our way back and rescue Zhao Yannian!" Wei Cong used a lever to wind the crossbow, and the mechanism made a crisp sound. "They definitely won't be prepared for our surprise attack!"

"Okay!" Wang Shou shook his head helplessly: "You have the final say here, what can I do?"

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Zhao Yannian leaned his back against the tree trunk so that he wouldn't have to worry about being attacked from behind. The enemies surrounded him. One man, holding an axe, rushed towards him with a loud shout. Zhao Yannian's ring-handled sword hit his neck, making a sharp sound, and blood splattered everywhere. The bearded man raised his spear and tried to nail Zhao Yannian to the tree trunk behind him, but the hook blocked the spear shaft and brought him to the ground. The next second, the blade pierced his ribs. Zhao Yannian wanted to draw his sword as quickly as possible, but the spear tip stabbed at him like a venomous snake. He had to give up his sword and draw the sword at his waist with his backhand, pointing the sword tip at the approaching enemy.

"Put down your weapon and I'll leave you with an intact body!" someone shouted.

Zhao Yannian snorted coldly and ignored it. He had seen this kind of trick many times. He knew that today was the day he would die. It was nothing. Everyone would have this day. As a veteran, he would demand a sufficient price for his death.

"Put down your weapons!" The shouts grew hoarse, and the besiegers dispersed, revealing the powerful crossbow at the back. "See? A two-stone crossbow. You're dead today! Put down your weapons, and I'll leave you with an intact body! Are you deaf?"

A whirring sound echoed from the bushes behind him. The man who was screaming opened his mouth, gasping for breath as a three-inch-long arrow, shaped like a duckbill, pierced his chest. The crossbow bolt was a vibrant crimson, bathed in blood. The man staggered and fell facedown to the ground, the arrow crushed beneath his weight, his blood seeping into the dirt. Everyone was stunned by this sudden blow, staring at each other, even forgetting the enemy before them.

Experience told Zhao Yannian that this moment was a matter of life and death. With a roar, he charged into the enemy ranks, piercing the crossbowman who posed the greatest threat. Then, unsheathing the crossbowman's ring-handled sword, he hacked left and right, causing the enemy to fall like reeds. The remaining men dropped their weapons and fled. Zhao Yannian pursued them, only to stop, breathless, as his strength ran out.

Wei Cong looked at the massacre in front of him, his face pale and his expression strange. He looked hesitantly at Zhao Yannian who was sitting on the ground and asked, "Are you injured?"

"Probably not!" Zhao Yannian replied after a rough check of his body, "But the old wound on my leg must have torn again!"

"Let's get on the carriage!" Wei Cong stretched out his right hand: "We can take care of it first, and then find a doctor when we get back!"

Facing the outstretched hand, Zhao Yannian hesitated for a moment: "You see, I'm full of trouble!"

"I know!" Wei Cong replied angrily, "But it's too late now. You were already in trouble when I asked you to get in the car!"

Zhao Yannian laughed. He grabbed the hand Wei Cong extended and stood up. "I will repay you handsomely for saving my life someday!"

"Forget it!" Wei Cong looked at Zhao Yannian and said, "In my eyes, Wei Cong, money is not as important as human life." After that, he and Wang Shou helped Zhao Yannian get on the carriage and turned back.

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The wide and low carriage swayed up and down with the rolling of the wheels. Two young men sat side by side, one of them drinking by himself, while the other held his chin and stared at the scenery outside the window in a trance.

"Ah Man, would you like some?"

Cao Cao waved his hand, declining the wine glass his friend offered him. He gazed out the window at the scenery. Farmland, orchards, woodlands, villages, and towns lined the roadsides. Of course, the most common sights were the fortified manors. The road from Luoyang to Wancheng was arguably the best in the entire empire. Ever since Emperor Guangwu restored the Han Dynasty, the emperor had chosen his empress and concubines from the noble families who had accompanied him in his conquests. Everyone knew that Nanyang, the imperial capital, naturally became the place with the highest concentration of foreign relatives.

Every year, the county officials along the way would regularly recruit laborers to repair the damaged road surface, dig up soil from the roadside, fill in the potholes, and then tamp it down until the road surface was flat and hard. There were also neatly planted trees on the roadside, and pavilions and wells at regular intervals for travelers to rest, ensuring that the nobles could travel easily between Luoyang and Wancheng.

A steady stream of travelers appeared on the road, young and old, adults and children, barefoot barbarian servants and noblewomen surrounded by servants. Some drove horse-drawn carriages or rode on ox-drawn carts, while many rode pack animals. Still more walked, burdened with luggage, their faces weary and wary. They were all heading north. When they saw the magnificently decorated convoy heading south, they stepped aside to make way for it.

"Jili, did you see another pretty young lady on the road? She has captivated you." Cai Mao leaned over and stuffed a cup into Cao Cao's hand.

"So, in Ah Mao's eyes, I'm just a lecher!" Cao Cao took the wine glass and took a sip. He had dark skin and ordinary features, nothing special. He was always lazy, and didn't have the well-mannered manners of other young men from aristocratic families his age. But when you saw him in person, you could sense a special charm, especially those eyes, which always shone with fiery passion and naturally drew you in.

"Ah Man, whether you are a lecher or not, everyone in Luoyang knows it!" In response to his friend's question, Cai Mao smiled and said, "But besides being lecherous, you have many other skills, especially in stirring up trouble. There are really few people of your age who can compare to you!"

"Really?" Cao Cao laughed. "If Ah Shu heard what you said, he would definitely not let you go! When it comes to stirring up trouble, he refuses to lag behind anyone!"

"Ashu?" Cai Mao snorted coldly, "That guy always looks down on everyone and hangs out with a bunch of desperate criminals. He's really brought shame to the Yuan family of Runan!"

"Haha, I knew you and him don't get along!" Cao Cao stretched lazily. "Forget it, let's not talk about these things. How far is it from here to Xinye?"

"At most seven or eight miles, at least four or five miles!" Cai Mao frowned. "What's wrong, A'man, why are you asking this?" "Look outside!" Cao Cao turned sideways, making room for the car window. Cai Mao looked out puzzledly and was immediately frightened by the flow of people on the road outside. "Why, how could this happen? What happened?"

"They're all heading from south to north!" Cao Cao gave Cai Mao a meaningful look and said, "It seems the south is not peaceful!"

"Something happened in the south? Shanyue? A civil uprising?"

"I don't think so!" Cao Cao shook his head. "If my guess is correct, it's probably the Wuling barbarians who are rebelling again! Do you remember? Three years ago, the barbarians of Changsha and Lingling rose up in rebellion, looting prefectures and counties. The local governor of Jingzhou was unable to defeat them. Before we left, there were rumors in the court that they were going to appoint Taichang Feng Gun as General of Chariots and Cavalry to attack the Wuling barbarians!"

"Ah, I have been in Luoyang for more than a year, and there has been no mention of it in any letters from home. Could the situation be so bad?" Cai Mao said in dismay.

"Don't you know? Just last year, the chieftain of the Wuling barbarians led 20,000 troops eastward, heading straight for Yidao. Yidao controls the strategic pass along the Yangtze River, dividing Chu and Shu. If the Wuling barbarians captured this place, they could cross the river north to Xiling, build ships and sail east to Jing and Yang provinces, wreaking havoc on them. If they advanced westward by land and sea, Shu would be shaken. How could the imperial court not be alarmed?"

"If that's the case, what a pity!" Cai Mao suddenly sighed when he heard this.

"What's a pity?"

"If we were older, wouldn't we be able to follow the emperor's orders and conquer the barbarians?" Cai Mao said with a smile, "I'm afraid we can't become Generals of Chariots and Cavalry, but we can still be something like a Captain Protecting the Southern Barbarians!"

Hearing his friend's words, Cao Cao remained silent, but his sparkling eyes betrayed his inner excitement. Although both were only fourteen or fifteen years old, the ancients were known for their precociousness. Even at fourteen or fifteen, even if they hadn't yet come of age, aristocratic families like Cao Cao and Cai Mao might have had several illegitimate children with their maids. (According to historical records, Cao Cao was born in 155 AD, so he would be twelve now. However, for the sake of the novel's plot, this age was adjusted to fourteen.)
In Luoyang, they made friends with the powerful and studied under great Confucian scholars, and had already entered the high-level political circle of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Their insights into the world at that time and their own ambitions were by no means comparable to those of their modern peers.

The Wuling barbarians mentioned by the two were also known as the Wuxi barbarians. Initially, this was a general term for the many ethnic minorities in the Wuling area. Later, the term was extended to include all ethnic minorities distributed in the Yuanjiang River Basin, Lishui River Basin, northwest of Dongting Lake in present-day Hunan Province, as well as parts of Guizhou, Hubei, and Guangxi provinces adjacent to Hunan.

This minority group began to rise during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han and grew in power thereafter. By the Eastern Han Dynasty, due to conflicts over taxes and corvée labor, the Wuling Man tribes were constantly in conflict with the local government of the Eastern Han Dynasty, sometimes rebelling and sometimes submitting, and had become one of the greatest threats to the Eastern Han Empire in the south.

In order to cope with the pressure of the Wuling Barbarians on the counties in southern Jingzhou, the Eastern Han government even had to move the seat of the Jingzhou governor to Hanshou (probably located in today's Changde, Hunan. Yes, Guan Yu's fief of Hanshou Tinghou was here) for a period of time, and organize the suppression of the Wuling Barbarians nearby.

As for the Wuling Barbarian uprising three years ago mentioned by Cao Cao, its army even reached the city of Yidu (today's Yidu, Hubei Province), directly threatening the Eastern Han Dynasty's rule in Yizhou and Jingzhou, and even the entire middle reaches of the Yangtze River. It was implicitly the most serious ethnic minority rebellion in the entire Eastern Han Dynasty, second only to the Qiang Rebellion.

Faced with the Wuling Barbarians' aggressive advance, the local military forces of Jingzhou alone were no longer able to suppress them. Therefore, the Eastern Han central government planned to appoint Feng Gun, a renowned general who had defeated local resistance forces in Yangzhou, Longyou, and Liaodong, as General of Chariots and Cavalry (a rank second only to General and General of Cavalry), to command the military campaign against the Wuling Barbarians and bring this protracted war to a swift end.

Suddenly, the carriage stopped, and someone outside said, "Young Master, someone is waiting for you on the roadside!"

"Why is there someone waiting to greet us when we are so far away from the county town?"

"The man who came here claimed to be Cai Buyi, the patrol officer from Xinye!"

"Oh, it's my distant cousin!" Cai Mao laughed. "Ah Man, aren't you going to stay in Xinye for a few days? I guess my father mentioned it in the letter he wrote to him!"

"Oh!" Cao Cao's eyes lit up. "This place is still quite far from Xinye City, right? Did your brother come all the way out of the city to meet you?"

"Hehe!" Cai Mao laughed dryly twice: "I'm afraid he came here for you! My cousin dreams of recommending you as a filial and honest official. My father probably revealed some of your identity in the letter, so -"

"I see!" Cao Cao laughed. "That's good. No need to worry about your brother not helping out! I have something else to do in Xinye, and I need a capable person!"

"That would be great. My cousin is called Cai Buyi. Although he's just a roving patrolman, his family has a strong foundation in Xinye. He'll definitely be able to handle things effectively!"

Cai and Cao disembarked from their carriage, chatting and laughing. Cao Cao's eyes suddenly lit up as he saw two men standing by the roadside. The one on the left was over eight feet tall, with a fair complexion and short beard, a handsome appearance, and a hemp scarf on his head and a Wu hook hanging from his waist. He stood out like a crane among chickens. Cao Cao instinctively stepped forward, reached out to shake the other man's arm, and said with a smile, "You are A Mao's cousin, Cai Buyi? I've heard of you for a long time, and seeing you today, you're indeed an extraordinary person!"

"My name is Wei Cong, and Cai Buyi is the one next to you!" Wei Cong carefully took a half step back to avoid the overly enthusiastic short boy in front of him. Judging from his appearance, the other party should be a wealthy young man, but if you look closely, although his clothes are all high-quality goods, for some reason, there is always a weird feeling, unlike the one next to him, whose every move is full of the etiquette unique to the children of aristocratic family.

"Wei Cong?" Cao Cao looked up and down at Wei Cong beside him, then glanced at Cai Buyi. A hint of disappointment flashed across his eyes, but he hid it well. He immediately smiled again and bowed to Cai Buyi. "So that's how it is. It was all my fault!"

"No way!" Cai Buyi dared not accept the nobleman's courtesy and quickly stepped aside, bowing in return. Cai Mao, standing nearby, also looked at Wei Cong curiously and said to Cai Buyi with a smile, "Brother, your companion is quite impressive. I wonder where he is from?"

"I'm from Yecheng, Hebei!" Wei Cong hurriedly followed his fabricated story and said, "I passed through this place a few days ago and got lost in the mountains. Brother Ling took me in!"

(End of this chapter)